who we help
ASL IoT expertise shapes manufacturer HWM’s range of monitoring solutions in hard-to-reach and hazardous locations
Background
HWM is a leading manufacturer of utility network monitoring solutions developed to save customers water, energy, time and money. They operate in:
- Public and municipal utilities.
- Clean water and wastewater.
- Solar power and electric vehicle charging.
- Building and facilities management.
- Local council and government.
- Environmental monitoring.
- Sustainability and green facilities.
- Plumbing and drainage.
HWM has over 30 years’ experience delivering services to the water, wastewater and gas sectors. They provide both powered and non-powered telemetry services, allowing data to be collected from any part of a utility network. This digital infrastructure creates visibility of the network for the operators, establishing control.
The Challenge
Providing monitoring solutions in hard-to-reach and hazardous locations come with unique challenges. Firstly, the technology must be reliable. This allows a business to run with fewer visits by engineers to the site, which keeps a workforce safer. Given the locations are often in remote or hazardous sites, this saves cost too. The design of the products needs to support long battery life, and robust product construction is essential to operating effectively in often dirty environments.
Alongside reliability, high connectivity is essential. Sporadic monitoring is not appropriate, so all devices in the field need to support different networks depending on their location. With many in more rural settings, traditionally modems have relied on 2G networks, but with the sunset of this technology approaching in 2025, then this technique is reaching “end of life”.
HWM focuses on utility companies. Their operations are often located in areas with low traditional network connectivity. This provides an additional risk to engineers visiting the site, who can struggle to contact others should they encounter any difficulties.
The Solution
ASL partnership with HWM means our IoT knowledge has shaped HWM’s range of products. This has included:
- Connectivity challenges: helping identify and plan the best sites for monitoring solutions to minimise connectivity problems during implementation
- New Product Development: with the impending sunset of 2G, ASL’s team have supported HWM’s adoption of NB-IoT, with a 2G fallback in hero products such as the PermaNET SU, so is a future-proofed solution. This means once an asset is deployed in the field, it will not need replacing in 2025 at the sunset of 2G.
- Revenue streams: providing connectivity to assets in the field to power a digital offering, ASL’s technology has shaped the overall digital solution to power new revenue.
